Serve those who served you

Beastmode for the Brave - How Do I Play

Upon enlisting you begin as a Private. Begin to spread the word about the mission while talking to others on a daily basis. Show them your website and then ENLIST their support too. This in turn allows you to track your contribution to the overall mission.

Work with your fellow enlisted

Spread the word about Operation With You and recruit as many people as you can to assist in the mission. Work with your direct recruits to grow your force's numbers.

Move up the ranks

Get promoted by enlisting other people (family, friends, acquaintances), to join you in Operation With You. The more people you enlist and the more people they enlist to build your "army", the higher rank you earn. We count everyone who enlists 8 levels down from you in your army!

Officer ranks

Once you get promoted to Sergeant Major, you unlock the OFFICER levels and the OFFICER level Challenge Coins. You will then have the opportunity to continue to get promoted as an OFFICER up to Colonel.

Colonel rank

As you continue to get promoted as an OFFICER, you will achieve the rank of Colonel. As a Colonel, you will unlock the GENERAL levels.

General ranks

Be proud! Once you get promoted to a 1 Star General (Brigadier General), you will receive a GENERAL's coin to signify your elite contribution to the mission. You can then get promoted to 4 Star General. Once you are a 4 Star General, you will unlock the GENERAL OF THE ARMY - the highest level of respect and admiration! You will also earn the most respected Challenge Coin, the 5-star General Challenge Coin!

Beastmode for the Brave - Coin History

A challenge coin is a small coin or medallion bearing an organization's insignia or emblem and carried by the organization's members. Traditionally, they are given to prove membership when challenged and to enhance morale. In practice, challenge coins are normally presented by unit commanders in recognition of special achievement by a member of the unit.

There are several stories detailing the origins of the challenge coin:

According to the most common story, challenge coins originated during World War I. Before the entry of the United States into the war in 1917 American volunteers from all parts of the country filled the newly formed flying squadrons. Some were wealthy scions attending colleges such as Yale and Harvard who quit in mid-term to join the war.

In one squadron, a wealthy lieutenant ordered medallions struck in solid bronze and presented them to his unit. One young pilot placed the medallion in a small leather pouch that he wore about his neck. Shortly after acquiring the medallion, the pilot's aircraft was severely damaged by ground fire. He was forced to land behind enemy lines and was immediately captured by a German patrol. In order to discourage his escape, the Germans took all of his personal identification except for the small leather pouch around his neck. In the meantime, he was taken to a small French town near the front. Taking advantage of a bombardment that night, he escaped. However, he was without personal identification. He succeeded in avoiding German patrols by donning civilian attire and reached the front lines. With great difficulty, he crossed no-man's land. Eventually, he stumbled onto a French outpost. Saboteurs had plagued the French in the sector. They sometimes masqueraded as civilians and wore civilian clothes. Not recognizing the young pilot's American accent, the French thought him to be a saboteur and made ready to execute him. He had no identification to prove his allegiance, but he did have his leather pouch containing the medallion. He showed the medallion to his would-be executioners and one of his French captors recognized the squadron insignia on the medallion. They delayed his execution long enough for him to confirm his identity. Instead of shooting him they gave him a bottle of wine.

According to another story, challenge coins date back to World War II and were first used by Office of Strategic Service personnel who were deployed in Nazi held France. Similarly, Jim Harrington proposed a Jolly sixpence club amongst the junior officers of the 107th Infantry. The coins were simply a local coin used as a "bona fides" during a personal meeting to help verify a person's identity. There would be specific aspects such as type of coin, date of the coin, etc. that were examined by each party. This helped prevent infiltration into the meeting by a spy who would have to have advance knowledge of the meeting time and place as well as what coin was to be presented, amongst other signals, as bona fides.

While a number of legends place the advent of challenge coins in the post-Korean Conflict era (some as late as the Vietnam War), or even later, Colonel William "Buffalo Bill" Quinn had coins made for those who served in his 17th Infantry Regiment during 1950 and 1951.

Colonel Verne Green, commander of the 10th Special Forces Group-A, embraced the idea. He had a special coin struck with the unit's crest and motto in 1969. Until the 1980s, his unit was the only unit with an active challenge coin tradition.

There is another story about an American soldier scheduled to rendezvous with Philippine guerrillas during WWII. As the story goes, he carried a Philippine solid silver coin that was stamped on one side with the unit insignia. The coin was used to verify, to the guerrillas, that the soldier was their valid contact for the mission against the Japanese.

The challenge coin tradition has spread to other military units, in all branches of service, and even to non-military organizations as well as the United States Congress, which produces challenge coins for members of Congress to give to constituents. Today, challenge coins are given to members upon joining an organization and as an award to improve morale.

Beastmode for the Brave - The Challenge

The tradition of a challenge is the most common way to ensure that members are carrying their coin. The rules of a challenge are not always formalized, and may vary between organizations. The challenge only applies to those members that have been given a coin formally. This may lead to some controversy when challenges are initiated between members of different organizations and is not recommended. The tradition of the coin challenge is meant to be a source of morale. The act of challenging is called a "Coin Check" and is usually loudly announced.

While most holders of challenge coins usually carry them in their pockets or in some other readily accessible place on their persons, most versions of the rules permit a challenged person "a step and a reach".

Variants of the rules include, but are not limited to, the following: Traditionally, the presentation of a coin is passed during a handshake. Some units provide strict time limits to respond to a challenge.

The "With You" Challenge.

There are 2 parts to the "With You" challenge.

First, The Critical Challenge.
This is the real meaning and action behind the challenge itself. Our Veterans are returning with combat related wounds, Post Traumatic Stress, and Traumatic Brain injury and need our help to recover and re-enter into civilian life.

When clearing buildings, it's common to hear the phrase "With You" being shouted out as the team kicks in the door allowing the others to know that they are not alone. The group enters as a team and is more effective and stronger as a result.

Beastmode For the Brave's, Operation With You, is similar in concept, except this time it is civilians shouting out "With You" as Veterans kick in their final door re-entry into civilian life. Let's not let our Veterans go it alone, let's have their backs.

We are challenging you to join the ranks of fellow patriots who have pledged to donate $22 per month and to encourage others to do the same. All donations will directly benefit Beastmode For the Brave and Guardian For Heroes programs. To learn more about where the donations go click here,
and let our Veterans know that you are with them.

Second, The BMFB Coin Check Challenge:
What's a Challenge Coin worth without a Coin Check? This is the fun side of this challenge.

Here are the rules:
The challenge, which can be made at any time, begins with the challenger drawing his/her coin, and slapping or placing the coin on the table and declaring loudly, "WITH YOU"! Everyone being challenged must immediately produce their coin, holding them high in the air and too yelling out "With You"! Anyone failing to do so must give the challenger $1 OR better yet, ENLIST if he or she is not a member of the With You army. However, should everyone challenged be able to produce their coin, the challenger must count the members of the group to determine how many dollars he or she owes (One person equals one dollar). Working on the honor system, the money collected should be donated to Operation With You.

Situation

Intelligence shows that there are about 2.7 million American veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. At least 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have PTS and/or Depression. 19% of Veterans may have Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Over 260,000 Veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom so far have been diagnosed with TBI. 7% of Veterans have both post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

Grow your army, help our mission, rank up and reap the rewards.

How Does It Work?

This is a challenge competition of fund-raising support. Simply, "ENLIST" your support for Veterans through Operation With You and donate $22 per month. Your support will be rewarded through promotions in rank as you recruit others to do the same. As you promote in rank you earn a new Challenge Coin that reflects your rank. The goal is to collect them all and out rank others! All funds donated benefit Veterans directly through Beastmode For The Brave and Guardian For Heroes programs.

What Do I Receive?

When you enlist, you join a community who have also enlisted their support to serve those who served us. You begin as a "Private". You will receive your first coin with your rank insignia proudly displayed on it. As you promote, you will receive additional ranking coins as well as exciting Beastmode For the Brave rewards. Collect them all! When you ENLIST as a Private, you will also receive an email with a link to your own web site. Make sure to utilize your own personalized link when you engage in conversations with others you meet daily and ENLIST their support too. This in turns allows you to track your contribution to the overall mission.

Get Promoted!

Never lose a challenge. Earn the recognition of your support and achieve a level of philanthropic achievement you never thought possible! You get promoted by ENLISTING other people (family, friends, acquaintances), to join you in Operation With You. The more people you ENLIST, the higher rank you earn! You will want to get promoted to collect all the Challenge Coins!

Build the With You army!

Spread the word about Operation With You and recruit as many people as you can to assist in the mission. Work with your direct recruits to grow your force's numbers. As your army grows, so will your contribution to the overall mission. Also, you will continue to rank up and reap the rewards!

Rank up to higher levels in the WITH YOU army!

Once you get promoted to Sergeant Major in the WITH YOU army, you will unlock the officer levels and the officer level Challenge Coins. You will then have the opportunity to continue to get promoted as an officer.

As you continue to get promoted as an officer, you will receive officer ranked coins with each promotion to signify your dedicated contribution to the mission. Once you get promoted to Colonel, you will unlock the GENERAL levels and the GENERAL Challenge Coins of the WITH YOU army!

Once you get promoted to a 1 Star General (Brigadier General), you will receive a GENERAL's coin to signify your elite contribution to the mission. You can then get promoted all the way to 4 Star General! Once you are a 4 Star General, you will unlock the GENERAL OF THE ARMY level and the highest level of respect - the 5-star General Challenge Coin!

The charities we provide funding to provide direct services to Veterans and their families to address issues of body, mind, and soul as they return to civilian life. Each organization goes through our strict vetting process to assure that 100% of the dollars you donate goes directly to serve veterans and the dollars have the maximum impact on the most veterans we can help. We also audit each organization to assure they maintain our standards.

In the United States, 22 Veterans commit suicide every day as a result of combat related wounds both mentally and physically. The $22 is to raise awareness of this number and provide the financial support to Veteran Service Organizations to reduce this number.

More questions?

About Us

You can make a difference in the lives of Veterans and their families through Operation With You. The operation provides the financial and emotional support that Veterans need to overcome their challenges and succeed when they return to civilian life.